It is amazing how time flies for us in Brazil. It has already been almost three weeks since we left home and flew back to Salvador de Bahia. We feel very much at ease here. Actually, we came to love this place. Thinking back of all the places we’ve visited so far, Bahia surely figures at the top of our favourites list. The relaxed atmosphere, the joyfulness of the people, the lively colours and engaging music, the comfortable climate, the incredible beauty of the nature, the warmth of the language, the tasty food…and so much more that, make this place so lovable.

Sun rise in the little bay of Aratú

In Aratú we found the Aratú Iate Clube, a small sailing community in the Walhalla of power boats, which very much dominate the scene in the bay. The IATE Clube members however are sailors who understand sailing and sailing boats.

Except for being sailors we are a bit of a curiosity in Aratú. Not many foreigners come to visit this place, let alone leave their boat over an extended period.

Few people here speak a foreign language. The staff at the club doesn’t speak any language other than Portuguese, which makes communication difficult. Using the little Portuguese we know however, is always much appreciated. For sure it creates a lot of goodwill.

Adopting a relaxed attitude is the other thing that pays off. No need to get stressed when things don’t work out the way you expect. “The way” here is just different than it is in Europe. Eventually things get done, but it takes a sort of a “letting go” or “go with the flow” attitude. The sailing boat industry is not yet very developed. As a result, it is hard to find the materials you want, or people with the right skills to make repairs. But there is always someone who knows somebody who can do a proper job. Fernando and Jean-Pierre, you did a great job in helping us. Thank you!

The “comandante” of the Aratú boat taxi

We have the luxury of time, so we can afford to relax and enjoy Bahia de Todos os Santos.

As much as we enjoyed Aratú and its wonderful people, as much do we now enjoy Itaparica, where we have dropped our hook since a few days.

Our friends Tomy and Steffi, on their boat Yemanja, are anchored just 100 meters away.

Our days here are quite leisurely: a coffee or two (and biscuits of course) to start off the day early (around 6 or 7 a.m. at the latest), then a swim around the boat, duly compensated by some fruits for breakfast, followed by some (not too much though) maintenance or repair work, rowing the dinghy to the side for a stroll on the sand bank beach or enjoy some snorkling, checking emails and Facebook, another swim from the boat, reading a book or writing a post, and last but not least happy (caipirinha and beer) hour(s) with (or without) Tomy and Steffi to close off the day early as well (around 8 or 9 p.m.)… Life could be worse!

At anchor in front of Itaparica

The plan for the next few weeks is first to haul Silmaril out on October 6th-8th to clean and wax her hull, and to add a fresh layer of anti-fouling.

Next we celebrate Leentje’s Big-5x birthday after which we will set sail south to visit the bay of Camamu.

We should be back in Salvador end of October after which we plan to begin a long journey to French Guyana and Suriname.